Back in the Clermont XV: Morgan Parra
Ulster have made just one change for their 100th game in the Heineken Cup, with Ian Whitten coming in for injured centre Darren Cave to face Clermont.
Brian McLaughlin has had consistency in selection over recent weeks but the loss of Cave is a big blow for Ulster ahead of a massive encounter at Stade Marcel Michelin. Whitten though, has had plenty of gametime and is a more than able replacement in midfield. The Ulster coach can also call on Nevin Spence who returns from injury and available from the bench.
Johann Muller will once again lead an all-international pack, in which loose forwards Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry and Pedrie Wannenburg have been in excellent form.
Ulster's match winners against Leicester, Ruan Pienaar and Andrew Trimble, will be instrumental to Ulster's hope of victory this time out. Stefan Terblanche gets the nod over Adam D'Arcy at full-back.
Apart from the inclusion of Spence, the only other change among the replacements is Andi Kyriacou coming in for Nigel Brady. The hooker will earn his 50th cap if he emerges.
Ulster face a difficult task in their 100th European tie. They have never won in France in 14 attempts, while their hosts on Saturday are unbeaten at home in 38 matches. But Ulster will be buoyed by the performance against Leicester last week and are determined to create history by making the knockouts in two consecutive years for the first time in their history.
"This weekend is all about clearing the next hurdle in our progression. It was great to reach the quarter-finals last year and be highly competitive against Northampton Saints, but the game in Clermont is much bigger than last year's quarter-final," said coach Neil Doak.
"We've got to go and get the monkey off our back by winning in France for the first time and we want to put ourselves in with a chance of a home draw in the last eight. Munster and Leinster are already there and it would be great for Irish rugby if we had three provinces in the quarter-finals for the first time. We have been building nicely towards this game and the players all know how important it is."
Meanwhile, Clermont have made ten changes to the side that smashed Aironi 82-0 last week.
Flanker Julien Bardy is the only member of the pack to retain his place. He is joined in the back-row by Julien Bonnaire and Gerhard Vosloo while Nathan Hines and Julien Pierre form an all-international second-row.
Samoan hooker Ti'i Paulo must settle for a place on the bench with former Leicester Tiger Benjamin Kayser starting as coach Vern Cotter lines up his strongest scrummaging front-row.
French internationals Morgan Parra and David Skrela form the half-back duo and are joined in midfield by Wesley Fofana and Aurélien Rougerie, who are expected to start for Les Bleus in the Six Nations.
Lee Byrne, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Julien Malzieu - who scored eight tries between them last week - link up again in the back three.
The teams:
Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Julien Bardy, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Clément Ric, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Daniel Coetzee, 19 Jamie Cudmore, 20 Alexandre Lapandry, 21 Kevin Senio, 22 Brock James, 23 Regan King
Ulster: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (capt), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Callum Black, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Nevin Spence, 23 Adam D'Arcy.
Date: Saturday, January 21
Kick-off: 16:40 (15:40 GMT)
Venue: Stade Marcel Michelin
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees: David Rose (England), Roy Maybank (England)
Television match official: Trevor Fisher (England)
Comments
Rosbif says...
I wonder if Ulster's mind-set will be affected by knowing they have already qualified? Or Clermont's mindset, thinking their opponent might not be 100% on it. I'm not sure of the maths, but if there is a Ravenhill QF up for grabs for Ulster, Clermont wld do well to banish those kinds of thoughts....
In any event, looking fwd massively to the game. Maybe both can go through after all, which wld be great for the competition imo (apologies to all the other fans out there rooting for their teams). Let's just hope the rain and wind stay away (not that the Connacht game was uninteresting, but wld prefer to see the backlines in full flow), no-one gets injured and/or we're not all talking about the ref afterwards :-)
Allez!!!
Posted 11:44 21st January 2012
makemehappy says...
Even Clermont must make it through this time! Highly likely that Ulster will be beaten up today, though it is pleasing to see them making progress after many years (even if with too many foreign players - seems to be rife in Ireland at the moment).
Posted 10:47 21st January 2012
damo says...
Hey Can someone please talk to Tombomb, Humphreys is world class and playing a great running kicking role at 10, Piennar is a 9 and always was and is also world class, Marshall is learning his trade and doing a great job learning form one of the best 9's in the world. Humphreys is the main reason the Ulster 12/13/14/11's are getting their hands on the ball. In this years HC Humphreys is prob in the top 3 on performances and the great thing is the other 2 are also Irish :).
Montpellier are bringing their A team to Leinster and that means it will be a classic game, this one is going to be tight I hope Ulster do the business but its the toughest assignment in Rugby winning in Clermont. Silvivatu is a legend and has been carving up defences for years when the weather improves he will bring Clermont the Top 14 pity they don't concintrate on that only lol
Posted 10:12 21st January 2012
Carpelone says...
Although Ulster have some good SA's blood, I cant see them winning this.
Skrela will not impact the game as Parra will kick, I think
Posted 17:31 20th January 2012
louis77 says...
thats a serious clermont team ... best of luck ulster
Posted 15:21 20th January 2012
Bones7 says...
I'm thinking the same, that Clermont side is loaded with talent. I think it's about time either France or South Africa gave that chap Vosloo a cap, he's routinely been one of the Top 14s standout players for some time.
Posted 15:18 20th January 2012
papachinzo says...
Wow, some great personal battles in this match!! should be one hell of a match... Its way to close to call, in my opinion.
Posted 14:58 20th January 2012
melkdave says...
The match of the round as its winner takes all and as Lienster_goy says a big ask for Ulster to win away but then doing that is what championship teams do ,so if Ulster want to be considered a big european team they must start winning away from Ravenhill
Posted 14:54 20th January 2012
tombomb says...
ohh look out of form Ian Humphreys plays 10 and in from Paul Marshall sits on the bench good call! haha
Posted 14:40 20th January 2012
Rosbif says...
Hope you're right leinster_goy. Vosloo vs Wannenburg/Pienaar/Terblanche cld be interesting....
Posted 14:01 20th January 2012
leinster_goy says...
really can't see ulster winning this. when have they ever done it away from ravenhill? their only hope is if skrela has one of his periodic meltdowns
Posted 13:19 20th January 2012